Scottish startup pureLifi is looking to fuel growth in product development and marketing after raising $1.5m in funding.
The company, previously known as PureVLC, is known for promoting LiFi, which uses visible light instead of traditional radio frequencies for internet connectivity.
LiFi, first coined by pureLiFi’s co-founder and chief science officer Harald Haas, is designed to provide networking capabilities similar to Wi-Fi but with a "significantly greater" spatial reuse of bandwidth.
The funding values pureLifi at £14m and will be used to support the development of its LiFi networking system, and to increase sales and marketing efforts.
Professor Russel Griggs, pureLiFi’s Chairman, said: "I am very pleased that the necessary funding is now in place to allow Harald and his team to push ahead with the product roadmap, positioning pureLiFi for its next phase of growth."
PureLifi’s Haas added: "LiFi is increasingly viewed as a transformative technology that can change the way we use the mobile internet as part of future 5G cellular networks and at the same time be an enabler of the emerging Internet of Things."
The funding comes after pureLifi launched and shipped its first LiFi network, Li-Flame, to industry customers worldwide.
The three-year-old company, a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh, chose Angel group London & Scottish Investment Partners (LSIP) to lead its latest round of funding.
Other investors in the funding round included the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) and Old College Capital, which is the venture investment arm of the University of Edinburgh.
Kerry Sharp, Head of the Scottish Investment Bank, said: "Having supported pureLiFi through seed investment we are pleased to further support them as they enter this exciting stage in their development. This new investment will help the company capitalise on the market opportunities this presents and thus achieve its growth ambition."
